OREA statement: New OSFI rules just add to pile on

“In the last six months, Ontario’s real estate market has borne the brunt of government intervention after intervention. From a new stress test to an increase in land transfer taxes, rising interest rates and Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan, governments at all levels are piling on new regulation and taxes to try and cool the market.

As a result, sales activity in the Greater Golden Horseshoe has slowed.

While REALTORS® support a sensibly regulated real estate market, OSFI’s new stress test for uninsured mortgages is overkill. These changes will hurt middle class families and punish careful savers the most, forcing them to take on more debt and higher interest payments.

It’s time for governments to hit the brakes on more demand side policy interventions and take a wait and see approach. Ontario’s housing market is too important to the provincial economy to move ahead with unnecessary regulation that will hurt the dream of home ownership.

Ontario Realtors would like to see governments put more focus on bringing more supply into the market, specifically ‘missing middle’ type housing like townhomes, stacked townhomes and duplexes. The best long-term solution to give growing families and millennials a shot at affordable home ownership is to increase housing supply and choice in the marketplace.”

- Tim Hudak, CEO – Ontario Real Estate Association